This page is dedicated to Guru-ji, my tabla teacher. I cannot possibly express how lucky I am to have met Guru-ji, who so warmly welcomed me into his family, and who so generously shared with me his immeasurable knowledge. I will always cherish the wonderful times that we had together. He will be greatly missed.

Pandit Sharda Sahai (1935-2011)

Pandit Sharda Sahai was born in Benares in 1935, a direct descendent of Pandit Ram Sahai, the founder of the Benares gharana of tabla playing. With the inherent gift in his blood of the finest traits of the Benares baj, he began at an early age to learn tabla from his father, the late Pandit Bhagvati Sahai. Following his father’s demise in 1946, he became a disciple of the inimitable Pandit Kanthe Maharaj, himself a disciple of Panditji’s grandfather, Pandit Baldeo Sahai.

Pandit Sharda Sahai started his professional career at the age of nine, performing both as a soloist and as an accompanist. He made his major public debut when he was sixteen, appearing at the Italee Music Conference in Calcutta with the sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His professional activities in India have included appearances as soloist and accompanist at all of the important music conferences and festivals as well as performances with every major artist of North Indian classical music.

He was awarded “A Grade Artist” status by All India Radio in 1965. Also in 1965, he founded the Pandit Ram Sahai Sangit Vidyalaya, an institute for training in classical music and dance, located in Benares.

In February, 1970 Pandit Sharda Sahai made a highly successful tour of Europe, the United States, and Canada with sarodist Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. His tabla playing made a powerful impression everywhere he played, and in September, 1970 he returned to the United States to accept an appointment as Artist in Residence with the World Music Program at Wesleyan University. He remained with Wesleyan University for five years, during which time he was also a visiting professor at Brown University and Berklee School of Music. Panditji’s superb ability as a performer is matched by his ability as a teacher. Few Indian musicians of his caliber have held as many teaching positions at such prestigious western universities. In recent years he divided his time between busy teaching schedules, annual summer tabla training programs in the U.S. and Canada, and the administration of the Pandit Ram Sahai Sangit Vidyalaya in the U.K. In the U.K., he was a Senior Lecturer at Dartington College of Arts for six years, and also taught tabla at Leeds University and Oxford University.

Pandit Sharda Sahai’s reputation as a tabla virtuoso in India and in the West is unmatched. His position as the direct descendent of Pandit Ram Sahai, the founder of the Benares tabla baj (style), endowed him as the bearer of a prodigious and closely guarded repertoire of composed material. As the fountainhead of the Benares Gharana, all of his performances were paradigms of the popular and respected Benares style. Many of the younger generation of tabla players and even some older players, from within the Benares Gharana and from outside the gharana, look to Panditji's playing as the authoritative model of the Benares style- a style which many tabla players attempt to emulate and incorporate into their own repertoires.

Though Pandit Sharda Sahai was a guardian of tradition, he was also extremely well versed in fusion of North Indian classical music with other styles. He has accompanied the well known South Indian violinist L. Shankar, and has performed jugal-bandi (duet) concerts with the leading exponents of the South Indian mridangam: Shivaraman, T. Shakaran, and R. Raghavan. In the West, he has performed with the avant garde composer John Cage, and the internationally acclaimed percussion group Nexus. At EXPO ’86 in Canada, at EXPO ’88 in Australia, and at the Commonwealth Drum Festival in England, he performed with the World Drum Ensemble, a conglomeration of over one hundred drummers from around the world performing on the same stage.

One of India’s most renowned tabla maestros, Pandit Sharda Sahai passed away on 20th November 2011, at the age of 76 surrounded by his family in Ealing Hospital, London. Panditji was renowned as one of the greatest exponents of the Benares Baj and pioneered its development worldwide, most notably in Canada, America and the UK. Panditji hailed from five generations of master musicians and whilst he was faithful to the tradition of his ancestors he also was very much a musician of his time.

He profoundly touched all those who came into contact with him with his great wisdom, knowledge and humour. He will be remembered for his spellbinding solo performances, East-West collaborations, and skill and generosity as a teacher. His legacy will live on through his disciples and students and in the Pandit Ram Sahai Sangeet Vidyalaya which he founded in Benares in 1965 so that those outside of the tradition could have access to education in Indian Music and the Performing Arts.